I feel like my family gets the short end of the stick. I never have time to do the things I love to do. Work is always calling me and I have to answer.
These are things I hear regularly from leaders around the world. There’s never enough time to get work and life done. One or the other gets neglected.
What if I told you it didn’t have to be this way? What if you could accomplish everything you needed at work and still spend time with loved ones doing what you love?
It’s possible. Not only is it possible but it’s something you need to do.
Photo by Loic Leray on Unsplash
3 Ways To Establish And Maintain Healthy Work-Life Balance
In this article, we will look at 3 ways you can establish and maintain a healthy work-life balance. You may be shocked at one or two of the suggestions. You may wonder why you didn’t think of these ideas before.
Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. You can do this. You can have a healthy life and a healthy business.
The Obstacles To A Healthy Work-Life Balance
What gets in the way of a leader creating a healthy balance between work and their personal life? The first thing is a lack of boundaries. We believe we have to be on 24/7. If we’re not there to answer the phone, respond to that customer’s email, or deal with an urgent but not important issue the business will fall apart.
Or another obstacle to balance is the way we’re tethered to our electronic devices. We rarely put down our cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices. Every ding, ping, and notification comes right to us. We’re inundated with notifications that don’t require our immediate attention. Can you imagine what work was like 15, 20, or even 30 years ago when we weren’t being notified of every message?
Maybe your obstacle is that you don’t know how to say yes to work and no to your family. Some of us are so focused on our own enjoyment that we space out on our work life. We can’t have all fun and no play, regardless of what others tell us.
So, how do we correct this? How do we gain balance between our work and life? Try the following 3 ways.
Balance Your Work And Life
1. Know your priorities:
Our life gets out of whack when we fail to recognize our priorities. We must know where our life comes into play separate from our work.
Take time to sit down and look at your life. Write out your typical day. See what’s filling your time.
Now, think about what’s important to you. Write those things out to you. Are you seeing your time filled with your important items or are there a lot of unimportant tasks filling your day?
Use this as a starting point to determine your priorities and regain the balance. You’ll discover there’s a mix of work and life items in there. Work it out so that they’re closer to balanced than unbalanced.
2. Turn off notifications:
Ding, ping, bing… The sounds of our notifications can drive us up the wall. Or, maybe they give you the dopamine hit you so desire to have. Either way, the notifications on our devices are not healthy. We don’t need to be notified of every incoming email, text message, or Teams communication. At least not after hours.
Be willing to shut off the constant buzz and beeps of your notifications. You’ll discover that you don’t need to respond to every incoming message within moments. They can wait until later in the day or even the next morning!
3. Create boundaries:
This is the tricky thing. You have got to set boundaries. You have to be willing to say no to the things that aren’t creating balance in your life.
Let go of those extra meetings, say no to that board member position, or don’t take on extra work outside of your normal job.
It’s not easy. However, as you begin implementing these tactics into your routine, you’ll find balance restored to your life.
